Joint European Project Research Articles

The European GeoMetre project: developing enhanced large-scale dimensional metrology for geodesy

We provide a survey on the joint European research project “GeoMetre”, which explores novel technologies and their inclusion to existing surveying strategies to improve the traceability of geodetic reference frames to the SI definition of the metre. This work includes the development of novel distance meters with a range of up to 5 km, the realisation of optical multilateration systems for large structure monitoring at an operation distance of 50 m and beyond, and a novel strategy for GNSS-based distance determination. Different methods for refractivity compensation, based on classical sensors, on dispersion, on spectroscopic thermometry, and on the speed of sound to reduce the meteorological uncertainties in precise distance measurements, are developed further and characterised. These systems are validated at and applied to the novel European standard baseline EURO5000 at the Pieniny Kippen Belt, Poland, which was completely refurbished and intensely studied in this project. We use our novel instruments for a reduced uncertainty of the scale in the surveillance networks solutions for local tie measurements at space-geodetic co-location stations. We also investigate novel approaches like close-range photogrammetry to reference point determination of space-geodetic telescopes. Finally, we also investigate the inclusion of the local gravity field to consider the deviations of the vertical in the data analysis and to reduce the uncertainty of coordinate transformations in this complex problem.

A LoCoMaTech H-2020 projekt alakítástechnológiai vonatkozásai és eredményei

A cikk a LoCoMaTech H-2020 projekt keretében végzett alakítástechnológiai kutatásokról és az elért eredményekről ad számot. A projekt a Horizon 2020 Európai Uniós program keretében nyert el pályázati támogatást a 2016.09.01-2019.08.31. közötti, 36 hónapos kutatási időszakra. A projekt szakmai feladatait 9 ország 19 intézményéből álló konzorcium valósította meg a Londoni Imperial College vezetésével. A projekt fő célja elsősorban nagyszilárdságú (pl. AA6082 és AA7075 anyagminőségű) aluminium ötvözetek alkalmazásával, jelentős tömegcsökkentéssel, költséghatékony gyártási eljárások kidolgozása, a környezeti káros hatások minél nagyobb mértékű csökkentésével. A projektben a Miskolci Egyetem Anyagszerkezettani és Anyagtechnológiai Intézetének Mechanikai Technológiai Intézeti Tanszéke volt a magyar partner, amelynek fő feladatát az alakítástechnológiai kérdések vizsgálata, alakíthatósági kísérletek végzése, valamint ezek numerikus modellezése képezte.

Chronic Diseases and Employment: Which Interventions Support the Maintenance of Work and Return to Work among Workers with Chronic Illnesses? A Systematic Review

The increase of chronic diseases worldwide impact quality of life, cause economic and medical costs, and make it necessary to look for strategies and solutions that allow people with chronic diseases (PwCDs) to lead an active working life. As part of the CHRODIS Plus Joint European Action project, a systematic review was conducted to identify studies of interventions that support the maintenance of work and return to work (RTW) among workers with chronic illnesses. These interventions should target employees with the following conditions: diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic vascular syndrome, respiratory diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, mental disorders, and neurological disorders. An extensive search was performed in PubMed, EMBASE, and PsycINFO for English language studies. Included in this review were 15 randomized controlled trials (RCT) for adult employees (aged 18+). We found that workplace-oriented and multidisciplinary programs are the most supportive to RTW and reducing the absence due to illness. In addition, cognitive behavioral therapies achieve positive results on RTW and sick leave. Finally, coaching is effective for the self-management of chronic disease and significantly improved perceptions of working capacity and fatigue.

High strength aluminum alloys in car manufacturing

In recent decades, there are many requirements stated against car manufacturing both from the customers’ side and also as legal requirements to reduce harmful emissions to provide increased environment protection, as well as to achieve increased safety, higher comfort and more economical vehicles. To meet these often contradictory requirements, application of light weight design principles is one of the most widely applied solutions. There are two main trends for producing lightweight automotive structures with low cost manufacturing which are particularly valid for car body elements produced by sheet metal forming. Application of high strength steels is one of the main possibilities. Various generations of high strength steels (e.g. DP-steels, TRIP steels, XHSS and UHSS advanced high strength steels) were developed in the last decades which are already successfully applied in the automotive industry. The application of lightweight alloy materials – particularly various aluminum alloys – is regarded as the other possible solution to meet the requirements of lightweight car body constructions. Aluminum has even higher weight reduction potential than steel materials, but aluminium has lower formability than steel; replacing steel with lighter materials such as aluminum can be costly and is not simply straightforward. Aluminum sheet, in particular, has lower formability at room temperature than typical sheet steels. This is one of the main reasons that recently the hot forming of aluminum alloys came to the forefront of research activities. In this paper, some recent results obtained within a joint European project entitled Low Cost Materials Processing Technologies for Mass Production of Lightweight Vehicles will be introduced.

A smart sensor Concept for traceable dynamic measurements

Smart sensors are the metrological challenge of the current trend towards digitization and “Internet of Things” (IoT). In particular for use in dynamic measurement applications, these cross-linked devices could help to provide more accurate and reliable data for the user while at the same time relieving the burden of complex signal processing. This paper presents a concept for a smart sensor in metrological terms. It is a forecast of the development that is to be implemented in an approved joint European research project which is about to start in the summer of 2018.

MBA education at the University of Debrecen and its further development towards Double Degree Programmes

University of Debrecen is the oldest higher educational institution in continuous operation in Hungary based in the same city. MBA training at Debrecen Agricultural University was initiated by 0257-91/1 Tempus Joint European Project Grant. The project was coordinated by the Netherlands Institute for Management (RVB) Maastricht. Participating institutions include University College in Dublin, Agricultural University in Wageningen and Debrecen Agricultural University. Minimum requirements established were a BSc (or equivalent) degree, an English certificate of language proficiency and one letter of reference from work supervisors or former teachers. Application requirements included a completed application form, Curriculum vitae, a certified copy of degree(s), an official copy of language knowledge certificate, a letter of recommendation and the receipt of registration fee payment. The academic year began on 1 September 1991, and project studies were carried out in small groups. Practical experience that had been gained before enrolment was taken into account and after the successful completion of the requirements students were granted MBA degrees.
 JEL CODE: I21, I25

Methodological aspects of exclusion and inclusion at the stage of entry into the issue of diversity

This article reflects the current understanding of the processes of exclusion and inclusion of the national higher school, the results of a sociological study of students' heterogeneous groups of Berdiansk State Pedagogical University in the framework of the joint European project "Initial and further education and training for educationalists and managers in education in the field of diversity", design of resources, conditions for teachers' training. Empirical data form the basis for the development of inclusive educational space a model of the University and the Strategic plan for the development of inclusive education in the region.

Playing MUSIC — building context‐aware and self‐adaptive mobile applications

SUMMARYAlthough the idea of context‐awareness was introduced almost two decades ago, few mobile software applications are available today that can sense and adapt to their run‐time environment. The development of context‐aware and self‐adaptive applications is complex and few developers have experience in this area. On the basis of several demonstrators built by the joint European research project MUSIC, this paper describes typical context and adaptation features relevant for the development of context‐aware and self‐adaptive mobile applications. We explain how the demonstrators were realised using the open‐source platform MUSIC and present the feedback of the developers of these demonstrators. The main contribution of this paper is to show how the development complexity of context‐aware and self‐adaptive mobile applications can be mastered by using an adaptation framework such as MUSIC. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Integrated Architectures for Third Generation Electric Vehicles – First Results of the ELVA Project

The joint European research project ELVA brings in line technology options and customer expectations for third generation electric vehicles. The objective is to develop innovative vehicle architectures fully exploiting freedoms in design that result from the electric drivetrain. This paper summarises the results of the first phase of the project which comprised deep technology and market forecasting as well as an open design contest for future electric vehicles. In the end, an outlook is given for the next phase in which three detailed vehicle concepts will be virtually developed and assessed with regard to several key requirements such as energy efficiency, material application and safety.

Surveying and digital workflow in energy performance retrofit projects using prefabricated elements

Due to the need for improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings, various methods for energy retrofitting are being developed. One such initiative is the TES Energy Façade project, a joint European academia and industry project under the umbrella of the WoodWisdom Net research platform. The project has developed a systematic approach for using prefabricated timber-framed elements that can be assembled in front of an existing façade. The TES approach requires a detailed and precise documentation of the as-built/as-maintained conditions of the existing façade. This paper discusses the approach for the surveying and documentation of a building's existing state and the need to establish a continuous digital chain that encompasses the various project stages from the survey to the site assembly of the elements. Technologies such as 3D laser scanning and BIM are efficient tools in the process but are not yet sufficiently developed to handle all of the challenges in renewal and retrofit projects.

Parallel processing method for high-speed real time digital pulse processing for gamma-ray spectroscopy

A new data acquisition (DAQ) system was developed to fulfil the requirements of the gamma-ray spectrometer (GRS) JET–EP2 (joint European Torus enhancement project 2), providing high-resolution spectroscopy at very high-count rate (up to few MHz). The system is based on the Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture™ (ATCA™) and includes a transient record (TR) module with 8 channels of 14 bits resolution at 400 MSamples/s (MSPS) sampling rate, 4 GB of local memory, and 2 field programmable gate array (FPGA) able to perform real time algorithms for data reduction and digital pulse processing. Although at 400 MSPS only fast programmable devices such as FPGAs can be used either for data processing and data transfer, FPGA resources also present speed limitation at some specific tasks, leading to an unavoidable data lost when demanding algorithms are applied. To overcome this problem and foreseeing an increase of the algorithm complexity, a new digital parallel filter was developed, aiming to perform real time pulse processing in the FPGAs of the TR module at the presented sampling rate. The filter is based on the conventional digital time-invariant trapezoidal shaper operating with parallelized data while performing pulse height analysis (PHA) and pile up rejection (PUR). The incoming sampled data is successively parallelized and fed into the processing algorithm block at one fourth of the sampling rate. The following data processing and data transfer is also performed at one fourth of the sampling rate. The algorithm based on data parallelization technique was implemented and tested at JET facilities, where a spectrum was obtained. Attending to the observed results, the PHA algorithm will be improved by implementing the pulse pile up discrimination.

Life-time prediction for advanced low alloy steel P23

Lifetime models for both creep and thermo-mechanical fatigue are presented for P23 steel. The models are the result of the joint European RFCS project ALoAS. The creep model, developed for robust creep strain modeling, here adjusted to describe the strain response of the ALoAS data, i.e. P23 pipe material fabricated by TenarisDalmine and plate material heat fabricated by Industeel. The creep modeling range covers 550–660 °C in temperature and 80–180 MPa in stress. The thermo-mechanical fatigue model is adjusted to the acquired data on thick walled P23 pipe material fabricated by TenarisDalmine. The load range covers 20–625 °C and up to 16,000 cycles to failure. A good description of the data has been achieved for both creep and fatigue models.

Characterization of long‐range time‐varying underwater acoustic communication channels

We present communication channel characterizations performed on in‐situ measurements from the Baltic and North Sea. The communication channels were probed using pseudorandom binary sequences (PRBS), obtaining time‐variant channel impulse responses through wideband matched filtering. Characteristics central to communications were obtained. Included are: scattering functions, coherence‐times and coherence bandwidths. The validity of the quasi wide sense stationary uncorrelated scattering (quasi‐WSSUS) assumption was also investigated for the measured channels. Measurements were acquired in the joint European project “UUV Covert Acoustic Communications.” The project aims to design an acoustic communication system between an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) and a support mother ship. The first sea trials of the project focused on the acquisition of noise and long‐range, low‐frequency communication channel data for the explicit purpose of building an acoustic channel simulator.

ATCA data acquisition system for gamma-ray spectrometry

The gamma-ray spectrometer JET EP2 (Joint European Torus enhancement project 2) project aims to perform high-resolution gamma spectroscopy at very high count rate (up to few MHz). Traditional analogue electronic has count rate and pulse processing limitations (long dead-time, pile-up challenge). Digital pulse processing (DPP) systems have been shown to have better performance than analogue ones for processing neutrons or/and gamma-ray signals. DPP can synthesize almost any pulse response shape without the signal degradation associated to complex analogue paths. High-speed transient recorders (TR) with auto-trigger functionality are used to digitize and store the detailed shape of pulses. The data acquisition (DAQ) system provides sophisticated analysis/data reduction based on real time algorithms, implemented in field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), for Pulse Height Analysis (PHA) while resolving pulse pile-up of digitized pulses. This paper describes a new DAQ system for real-time pulse analysis. The system is based on the Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture™ (ATCA™) and contains an ix86-based processor blade with up to 40 GFLOPS and a TR module interconnected through PCI Express (PCIe) links. TR module features: (i) 8 channels of 13 bit resolution with accuracy equal or higher than 11 bit to cope with the expected signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the input pulses; (ii) up to 500 MSamples/s sampling rate with the possibility to achieve 1 GSamples/s; and (iii) 2 or 4 GB of local memory. The core of the TR module is two FPGAs able to perform real-time processing algorithms such as PHA and pile-up resolution. This will allow data reduction by a factor of at least 6 and eventually spectra output in real-time.

Description of the Tous Dam break case study (Spain)

A description of the Tous Dam break as a case study for flood model development and validation purposes is presented. The corresponding data set was put together during a joint European project named Investigation of extreMe flood Processes And unCerTainty (IMPACT) with the aim of testing numerical models of flood propagation, including the treatment of urban areas. The case study is based upon the failure of Tous Dam in Spain and the flooding of Sumacárcel, a small town located 5 km downstream. Tous Dam broke due to overtopping on October 20, 1982. This event exemplifies the failure of a major flood control structure with considerable risk for population and damage to properties. The paper describes Tous Dam, the event that led to its breaching, the effects of the flood downstream and the inundation of the town of Sumacárcel. The information provided together with the referenced data set allows for mathematical modelling of the breaching and flooding processes, including the town, and can be used for validation of mathematical models against real-life data.

Approach for a Standardized Methodology for Multisite Processing of 300-mm Wafers at R&D Sites

This paper describes the objectives and results of a joint European project named FLYING WAFER. The goal of the project was to provide a methodology for interlinking European R&D centers in micro and nano technologies to a distributed 300-mm CMOS R&D line. The project was carried out as a feasibility study. Therefore, the results provide a model and concept which has the potential of guaranteeing a safe and fast exchange of wafers and data between European R&D nodes to allow multisite processing. An implementation phase is planned as a second step.

Chloride, hydrochemical and isotope methods of groundwater recharge estimation in eastern Mediterranean areas: a case study in Jordan

AbstractJordan is classified as an arid to semi‐arid country with a population according to 1999 estimates of 4·8 millions inhabitants and a growth rate of 3·4%. Efficient use of Jordan's scarce water is becoming increasingly important as the urban population grows. This study was carried out within the framework of the joint European Research project ‘Groundwater recharge in the eastern Mediterranean’ and describes a combined methodology for groundwater recharge estimation in Jordan, the chloride method, as well as isotopic and hydrochemical approaches. Recharge estimations using the chloride method range from 14 mm year−1 (mean annual precipitation of 500 mm) for a shallow and stony soil to values of 3·7 mm year−1 for a thick desert soil (mean annual precipitation of 100 mm) and values of well below 1 mm year−1 for thick alluvial deposits (mean annual rainfall of 250 mm). Isotopically, most of the groundwater in the Hammad basin, east Jordan, falls below the global meteoric water line and far away from the Mediterranean meteoric water line, suggesting that the waters are ancient and were recharged in a climate different than Mediterranean. Tritium levels in the groundwater of the Hammad basin are less than the detection limit (<1·3 TU). However, three samples in east Hammad, where the aquifer is unconfined, present tritium values between 1 and 4 TU. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Validation of satellite observed thermal emission with in-situ measurements over an urban surface

The Basel Urban Boundary Layer Experiment (BUBBLE) is a joint European research project under the umbrella of COST ( Coopération Européenne dans la domaine de la recherche Scientifique et Technique, COST 715: Meteorology applied to urban pollution problems). Besides very detailed field measurements of the structure and dynamics of the urban boundary layer, a series of satellite data has been analyzed and validated. Satellite data from MODIS, NOAA-AVHRR (14, 15, and 16) and Landsat-ETM were used and recorded during June and July 2002 in parallel to the BUBBLE field campaign. MODIS and NOAA-AVHRR data represent day and nighttime surface radiation temperatures in 930 m and 1100 m grid size. Landsat-ETM offers a unique resolution on 60 m, but with only daytime imagery at about the same time of MODIS overpass is available. This enables the validation of satellite measurements from different sensors with ground measurements at locations with various degrees of spatial homogeneity/heterogeneity (urban/rural land use). Several different algorithms for NOAA-AVHRR data were compared with in-situ measurements. The results show a very high correlation of the long wave emissions measured by the satellite with the in-situ measurements showing an accuracy of ± 3% to 5% on average, even in urban environments.

FLYING WAFER - A STANDARDISED METHODOLOGY FOR MULTI-SITE PROCESSING OF 300 MM WAFERS AT R&D-SITES

FLYING WAFER was a joint European project funded in the 6th Framework of the European Commission. The objective was to provide a methodology for interlinking European R&D centres in micro- and nanotechnologies to a distributed 300 mm CMOS R&D line. The FLYING WAFER project was carried out as a feasibility study. Therefore, the results provided a model and concept which has the potential of guaranteeing a safe and fast exchange of wafers and data between European R&D nodes to allow multi-site processing.

Collaboration across Europe: Experience from Practice

This paper explores the experiences of working on a joint European project to develop an online Gateway of website resources in addictions by members of ELISAD, the European Association of Libraries and Information Services on Alcohol and other Drugs. A brief overview is given of the work of ELISAD, and of its sister organisation SALIS. The project is described along with an exploration of the benefits and barriers in working collaboratively. The paper draws on these experiences to highlight the lessons learnt through the Gateway and other activities. Issues considered include: genesis of the project; funding; project management; working styles; language; benefits and barriers; and key observations regarding how to make partnerships work. Although the paper is based upon a joint European project, it includes some reflections upon ELISAD's international links. The paper is written from the personal experiences of the authors.